The Minnesota Twins and the Tampa Bay Rays meet in game one of a four game set in MLB action from Tropicana Field on Thursday.

The Minnesota Twins will look to keep their momentum going after earning a series split with Milwaukee, taking Tuesday’s finale by a final score of 5-3. Eddie Rosario had a home run and two RBIs while Max Kepler had a double and two RBIs and C.J. Cron added a two-bagger and an RBI of his own to round out Minnesota’s scoring as a team in the win. Jorge Polanco went 2 for 4 at the dish while Miguel Sano had a double and Marwin Gonzalez, Jason Castro, Ehire Adrianza and Willians Astudillo each had a base knock as well in the victory. Devin Smeltzer threw six shutout innings in his major league debut, striking out seven while allowing just three hits, not factoring in the decision. Matt Magill got the win to improve to 1-0 while Ryne Harper picked up his 1st save of the year. Martin Perez will start game one and is 7-1 with a 2.95 ERA and 56 strikeouts this season. In his career, Perez is 0-3 with a 6.57 ERA and 29 strikeouts against Tampa Bay.

The Tampa Bay Rays will also look to keep the ball rolling after making it five wins in a row with a 4-3 extra innings win over Toronto in their series finale on Wednesday. Brandon Lowe went 2 for 6 with a double and two RBIs while Avisail Garcia went 3 for 6 with an RBI and Willy Adames added an RBI of his own to round out Tampa Bay’s scoring as a team in the win. Tommy Pham had three hits and Austin Meadows added a pair of base knocks while Kevin Kiermaier added a double. Ji-Man Choi and Daniel Robertson each contributed base hits as well in the winning cause for the Rays. Blake Snell gave up two runs on six hits while striking out five over six innings of work, not factoring in the decision. Diego Castillo ended up with the win in relief to improve to 1-3 on the year. Charlie Morton will start game one and is 5-0 with a 2.54 ERA and 77 strikeouts this season. In his career, Morton is 1-0 with a 5.91 ERA and 15 strikeouts against Minnesota.

Minnesota is 4-0 in Perez’s last 4 road starts and 9-1 in their last 10 road games while the under is 5-1 in Perez’s last 6 starts. Tampa Bay is 54-25 in their last 79 home games and 61-30 in their last 91 games overall while the under is 9-4-1 in their last 14 Thursday games. Minnesota is 1-5 in the last 6 meetings between these two teams in Tampa Bay.

I completely understand why Tampa Bay is favored here after winning five in a row and having Morton on the mound doesn’t hurt either as he’s undefeated so far this season with a solid ERA. However, Minnesota is playing lights out right now in their own right, and Perez has been just as good this season, giving up two runs or less in six of his eight starts this season. I just think that there’s value to be had with Minnesota, especially with the Twins having an extra day to rest while the Rays played an extra innings game on Wednesday, so I’ll take a shot at the Twins and the plus money here.

Chris has been a sports fan from when he was old enough to pick up a basketball and was a standout offensive lineman throughout high school and college. Chris uses that same instinct, determination and drive to analyze trends and statistics to find and produce winners on a consistent basis. Chris has been writing for Sports Chat Place since 2016 and covers a wide array of sports from college and pro football, college basketball, hockey and baseball.

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